Beverly Hills is still the priciest for homes

No Hawaii markets made the top 10, a realtor's survey says

LOS ANGELES » Hedge fund and Wall Street cash made Greenwich, Conn., the second-most expensive U.S. housing market in the past year, trailing only Beverly Hills, Calif., according to a Coldwell Banker survey.

The most expensive Hawaii market didn't make the top 10 in the 2007 Coldwell Banker Home Price Comparison Index, released yesterday using data for the year ended July 31.

In Beverly Hills, an average 2,200-square-foot home with four bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms costs $2.21 million, according to the study. In Greenwich, which ranked No. 8 in last year's survey at $1.4 million, the price for a similar home was $2.02 million this year.

All but one of the remaining markets in the top 10 were in California, with La Jolla, Santa Monica and Palo Alto rounding out the top five. Boston came in at No. 10, at $1.38 million. The company didn't rank markets below the top 10.

The most expensive Hawaii market, in Kihei, Maui, had an average price of $963,000 for an equivalent home, the survey found. The most affordable Hawaii market for such a home was in Honolulu, Coldwell said, with an average price of $843,750.

Coldwell Banker chose 2,200-square-foot homes, which typically have family rooms or the equivalent and two-car garages, as a snapshot of single-family homes, Gillespie said. Manhattan in New York City wasn't included in the study because of a lack of comparable homes, Coldwell said.

Such houses typically are occupied by those in middle management, and are more expensive than the average home, Coldwell said. The average sales price for such homes in the 317 U.S. markets Coldwell tracks is $422,343, compared with a $218,200 median for all existing homes sold in the U.S., regardless of type, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The most affordable markets in the U.S. were Killeen, Texas, at $136,725; Minot, North Dakota, at $139,033; Arlington, Texas, at $139,175; Canton, Ohio, at $146,333; and Muncie, Indiana, at $150,000.

Outside North America, Dublin was the most expensive housing market Coldwell studied, with an average price of $2.13 million for a 2,200-square-foot home. Dublin was followed by Milan, at $1.92 million; Rome, at $1.79 million; and Paris, at $1.68 million.

Bogota was the most affordable foreign market studied, with an average price of $140,100, Coldwell said. At $417,760, Warsaw was the foreign market closest to the U.S. average.